Global ETD Search

1	Predicting Speech Intelligibility and Quality from Model Auditory Nerve Fiber Mean-rate and Spike-timing Activity Wirtzfeld, Michael Roy January 2017 (has links) This dissertation examines the prediction of speech intelligibility and quality using simulated auditory nerve fiber activity. The relationship of neural mean-rate and spike-timing activity to the perceptual salience of the envelope (ENV) and temporal fine-structure (TFS) of speech is indistinct. TFS affects neural temporal coding in two ways. TFS produces phase-locked spike-timing responses and narrowband cochlear filtering of TFS generates recovered ENV. These processes, with direct encoding of ENV to mean-rate responses, are the established transduction processes. We postulate that models based on mean-rate (over a time-window of approx. 6 to 16 ms) and spike-timing cues should produce accurate predictions of subjectively graded speech. Two studies are presented. The first study examined the contribution of mean-rate and spike-timing cues to predicting intelligibility. The relative level of mean-rate and spike-timing cues were manipulated using chimaerically vocoded speech. The Spectro-Temporal Modulation Index (STMI) and Neurogram SIMilarity (NSIM) were used to quantify the mean-rate and spike-timing activity. Linear regression models were developed using the STMI and NSIM. An interpretable model combining the STMI and the fine-timing NSIM demonstrated the most accurate predictions of the graded speech. The second study examined the contribution of mean-rate and spike-timing cues for predicting the quality of enhanced wideband speech. The mean-rate and fine-timing NSIM were used to quantify the mean-rate and spike-timing activity. Linear regression models were developed using the NSIM measures and optimization of the NSIM was investigated. A quality-optimized model with intermediate temporal resolution had the best predictive performance. The modelling approach used here allows for the study of normal and impaired hearing. It supports the design of hearing-aid processing algorithms and furthers the understanding how TFS cues might be applied in cochlear implant stimulation schemes. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / This dissertation examines how auditory nerve fiber activity can be used to predict speech intelligibility and quality. A model of the cochlea is used to generate simulated auditory nerve fiber responses to speech stimuli and the information conveyed by the corresponding spike-events is quantified using different measures of neural activity. A set of predictive models are constructed in a systematic manner using these neural measures and used to estimate the perceptual scoring of intelligibility and quality of normal-hearing listeners for two speech datasets. The results indicate that a model combining a measure of average neural discharge activity with a measure of instantaneous activity provides the best prediction accuracy. This work contributes to the knowledge of neural coding in the cochlea and higher centers of the brain and facilitates the development of hearing-aid and cochlear implant processing strategies. envelope temporal fine-structure auditory periphery model recovered envelope neurogram
2	Spatial analysis of development projects in Venda : a case study of the Tshivhase tea estate Adjei, Alexander 01 1900 (has links) The research was undertaken to investigate the impact of the Tshivhase Tea Estate on the space economy of Venda, the people and area ofMapate, and Duthuni, among whom the Tea Estate is established. The approach is based on principles. Principles of development theory are combined with appropriate spatial models. The development reality of Venda, together with many other development projects are analysed. Does the tea estate address the rural poverty problem? Findings are presented from a case study of Tshivhase and this proved the lack of growth and development impulses to alleviate the poverty of the rural people among whom it is located. Development is considered in terms of its possible simultaneous diffusion of economic activity and modernisation in all four dimensions of the spatial system : political, socio-cultural, economic and physical. / Department of Geography / M.A. (Geography) Core-periphery Model Community Development Development Indicators Human Resource Development in Venda Physiographic Regions in Venda Plantation Miossec Model Tshivhase Tea Estate Economic Growth Tourism in Venda 330.968291 Plantations -- South Africa Tshivhase Tea Estate (South Africa)
3	Spatial analysis of development projects in Venda : a case study of the Tshivhase tea estate Adjei, Alexander 01 1900 (has links) The research was undertaken to investigate the impact of the Tshivhase Tea Estate on the space economy of Venda, the people and area ofMapate, and Duthuni, among whom the Tea Estate is established. The approach is based on principles. Principles of development theory are combined with appropriate spatial models. The development reality of Venda, together with many other development projects are analysed. Does the tea estate address the rural poverty problem? Findings are presented from a case study of Tshivhase and this proved the lack of growth and development impulses to alleviate the poverty of the rural people among whom it is located. Development is considered in terms of its possible simultaneous diffusion of economic activity and modernisation in all four dimensions of the spatial system : political, socio-cultural, economic and physical. / Department of Geography / M.A. (Geography) Core-periphery Model Community Development Development Indicators Human Resource Development in Venda Physiographic Regions in Venda Plantation Miossec Model Tshivhase Tea Estate Economic Growth Tourism in Venda 330.968291 Plantations -- South Africa Tshivhase Tea Estate (South Africa)
4	De overdracht van Nederlandse getuigenisliteratuur naar Zweden : In welk opzicht verschillen de besluiten om vier getuigenisboeken in het Zweeds te laten vertalen en uitgeven Hoe ziet de receptie van deze boeken uit / The Transfer of Dutch Holocaust literature to Sweden : In what way do the decisions to publish and the receptions differ between four diaries from the Holocaust translated and published in Sweden in the last 15 years Larsson-Toll, Karna January 2021 (has links) In this case study four non-fiction books are being accompanied on their way from the Netherlands to the public in Sweden, that is from one peripheral language into another. Where did the initiative come from? Were there any subsidies and did that matter? What kind of publishers were involved and were there also other agents involved? Who were the most important cultural mediators? How were the books framed in order to be noticed in the new country? How does all this fit in with the sociological theory of transnational cultural transfer? It turned out that these books more or less followed the expected path with a few exceptions: Two of the books were published by large-scale publishers in Sweden although they had not proved to be successful in the Netherlands. And there were no signs of regular co-operation between the involved publishers. Obviously the translated Dutch books in Sweden are such a marginal business for these publishers that they do not influence their network of foreign publishers. Even if all four books belong to the same genre, they are very differently framed to be noticed in their new country. Literature transfer selection reception peripheral languages Dutch books to Sweden Anne Frank Etty Hillesum witness literature Holocaust literature non-fiction publishers translators critics intercultural intermediaries translation subsidies reviews pole coherence core-periphery model sociology of translation transnational pole coherence small-scale and large-scale poles. Literaire overdracht selectie receptie perifere talen Nederlandse boeken naar Zweden Anne Frank Etty Hillesum getuigenisliteratuur uitgevers vertalers critici interculturele bemiddelaars subsidie recensies center-periferie model sociologie van vertaling Humanities and the Arts Humaniora och konst Languages and Literature Språk och litteratur

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